[Undómë]

Jack poked his head over the balustrade at the sound of Aiwendil’s voice. Three small books found their way into his coat’s large pockets as he raced down the steps; his long legs taking two or three at a time. Behind him, the shadows between the stacks seemed to move forward until they crowded in along the oak balusters watching the scene below.

‘Ah, good! You’ve got the door secured.’ He stood, hands on slender hips, thinking. ‘And the basement’s all locked up; I reset the keypad.’

The sounds grew louder, more raucous beyond the thick door. Jack looked up at the stacks, his eyes flicking round the circumference. ‘Guard your barrow well, my friends. We’ll see what we can do from behind our old foe.’

Jack turned back to Aiwendil and the two women. ‘Come, there’s a way beneath the grounds to the old library building. A nice dry tunnel where the steam pipes run. There are many less popular books stored in the old building, as well as a place where the book repairer works. We can cross over there and come up behind the foul Orcs and Trolls.’ He smiled grimly at the trio. ‘That is if you’re up to a little skirmish this fair night.’ He opened his long coat, the slender fingers of his right hand pointing to a tarnished blade that now hung by his side. ‘Gift from old friends above.’ He nodded to the shadows crowded on the upper landing. ‘Not all the Elves of Imladris sailed West. Some stayed; some died. Many of their fëar found familiar places of refuge.’ He raised his brows as he regarded the main door once again.

‘One could almost feel sorry should those creatures breach the entrance.....almost.....’

‘Shall we go?’ Turning toward the area of the main floor where the check-out terminal stood, Jack motioned for them to follow him through a small door behind the desk. It led into a small dimly lit landing at the head of a winding spiral of metal stairs.

Behind them the shadows had come down from the upper stacks. Good hunting..... came the soft murmuring of fair voices, though in an elder tongue not many now would understand.